Dilemma
by Jareth's Whore
Summary: Narcissa has been tricked into her marrige; her twin is causing trouble; Draco has to bust her out of captivity; she and Snape do not get along; does Remus still love her the way he used to? What is with Draco and Hermione? RLNB HGDM...funny
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 1: ESCAPE  
  
He looked at the door, a chill running up his back and causing the fine hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. His father and Selene stood behind him, arm-in-arm.  
  
" Well, son, are you going to open the door, or not?" Lucius Malfoy said. Draco could picture him raising one eyebrow, a trait he had always wished he had inheirited.  
  
" Yes, Father," he replied, then pulled open the door.  
  
Narcissa Black lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Draco felt extremly uncomfortable; it was the first time he had seen his mother in over three years.  
  
" Draco," she said, relishing the name.  
  
" Mother." What was there to say?  
  
She sat up, meeting his eyes directly. Draco was a little shocked; it was difficult seeing Selene's face with large brown eyes rather than that icy blue colouring he found so disturbing in females.  
  
" How are you? Are you well?" he asked her, then instantly regretted it.  
  
" I don't know." she replied. " Does the Pope piss in the woods?"  
  
" No."  
  
" There you go."  
  
" Mother..."  
  
" I'm sorry, Draco. I am so...sardonic these days. I don't feel like anything should care about me."  
  
Draco studied her, the way her pale blonde hair fell across her face, her large brown eyes like a deer in the headlights of the Knight Bus...but most of all her angular face and high cheekbones, which although Selene, her (evil) twin sister had, were so uniquely her.  
  
" Tell me about you, Draco," she said, arranging her skirts. " Tell me about school. Have you met any girl yet?"  
  
Draco flinched; it was one thing admitting his love for this girl mentally, quite another telling his mother about it. She doesn't care about Mudbloo-Muggle-borns. Not like Father.  
  
" Yes, actually," he said carefully. " As a matter of fact, I have. There is just one problem..."  
  
Narcissa looked at him inquiringly.  
  
" She's a Muggle-born, not to mention the fact that she hates me. It's Hermione Granger, Mother. I was going out with Pansy, and Virginia Weasly, but then, over the summer, I realized I couldn't entrust myself to either of them. Pansy runs a whore group, and Ginny has joined it. I can't trust either of them.  
  
" When I see Hermione, I just feel...good about myself. I can't stop thinking about her. Even though I have always been cruel to her and her friends, for the past year I haven't. I have let them alone, and now she doesn't even see me pass her in the halls. There is nothing I can do! She ignores me! She hates me! I want to make her trust me, even a little."  
  
Draco paused and took a breath. Narcissa spoke softly.  
  
" If only I could be out there...help you...if only there was a way..." She was close to tears. " This Hermione sounds like a wonderful girl."  
  
" She is."  
  
They sat together in silence for a moment. Draco wet his lips, and pulled his bookbag up onto the bed. He rummaged through it. Narcissa watched silently.  
  
" Here," he whispered, pulling something out of his bag. " I stole it from Father."  
  
Narcissa accepted the slender cederwood rod with trembling hands.  
  
" Fourteen inches, cedarwood, veela hair," he whispered. " Am I correct?"  
  
She raised her face, looked him square in the eyes. " It's time?"  
  
" It's time."  
  
Narcissa stood, and strode over to her wardrobe. There was new power in her step. Draco turned, put his hand on the doorknob, and readied his wand.  
  
He yanked the door open, shouting " STUPIFY!" twice at the top of his lungs. Two thumps certified the spell's power. He knelt and examined them, Selene and Lucius. They would be unconsious for hours.  
  
Narcissa appeared at the door. Her hair was now red, twisted into a bun at the back of her head. She was dressed in blue robes; Ravenclaw dress robes from her Hogwarts graduation. He was amazed they still fit.  
  
" Now where are we going?" she asked.  
  
Draco busied himself with the locking spell on the large wooden door.  
  
"Draco..."  
  
" Severus Snape's house. I wrote him."  
  
" Snape? No..."  
  
" We should trust him. He'll take us somewhere safe."

" You know perfectly well I hate the bastard, Draco."

" We don't have a choice, Mother!"

Narcissa swept out the door imperiously.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: WHATEVER SHALL WE DO?  
  
" It's about time you got here, Mr. Malfoy. I have been waiting for hours."  
  
Draco opened his mouth to reply, but his mother been him to it.  
  
" Shut your claptrap, Severus. Don't you dare snap at my son." God, she was testy. Not enough sleep, he supposed. She had spent most of her journey from Malfoy Manor staring out the window, obviously expecting Lucius and Selene to come riding up and take her away.  
  
Snape narrowed his eyes at her. " Mrs. Malfoy-"  
  
" Miss Black," she interupted evenly. " I was never married."  
  
Snape obviously didn't care.  
  
" Miss Black, then. This is my house, and I expect you to treat me with respect."  
  
" Like you did to me when we were in school?"  
Snape sighed; they had only been there two minutes, and Draco had the feeling he already wanted to boot them out the door.  
  
" Narcissa, let's not get into that. I was foolish, and you were..."  
  
" A fetching piece of teenage girlflesh?" Narcissa said sweetly. Draco could've sworn Snape flushed slightly.  
  
" No, that was not what I had in mind."  
  
" A sexy, class-A seductress, then?"  
  
Draco seriously wished to get out of that room before the conversation got dirty.  
  
" Virgin ears, Mother. Don't forget."  
  
" Oh, yes. I'm sorry Draco." She turned and stalked out of the room, sending Snape a poison-arrow look over her shoulder.  
  
" Mother!" Draco hissed once they got into Narcissa's temperary room. " Why'd you do that? Do you want us to be kicked out of here?"  
  
Narcissa sighed; she evidently did not want to go through with this right now. "Draco, I can't help it! Severus Snape was a simple bastard all through school. I can't think of how he might have changed!"  
Draco knocked his head against the solid oak door. Parents, he thought bitterly.  
  
Shadows danced in the half-light of the fire burning slowly in the grate. Remus Lupin set down his paperwork, heaving an exhausted sigh. Bending down, he rifled through the papers in his desk drawer until he found yesterday's edition of the Daily Prophet. He turned and stoked the fire, settled down and spread the paper over his lap.  
  
STARTLING DEATH AT MALFOY MANOR  
  
read the headline. Astonished, Remus leaned closer and continued reading.

Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy, age 37, was found dead in her bed last night around 8 o'clock. According to Lucius Malfoy, 41, her husband, " I would know  
those big blue eyes of hers anywhere. That was obviously my Narcissa."  
  
Mrs. Malfoy's throat was slit.  
see MURDER, page 2B  
  
Remus didn't bother to read the rest. He shut the paper and stared moodily into the flames.  
  
He could have sworn Narcissa's eyes were brown.


End file.
